by Nicety
Tears shattered my momma’s face, trickling down splashing onto the crisp white bed sheets tightly tucked around a static Flava. She didn’t appear normal looking just as the doctor had said she would. She looked as if she was already dead and the funeral home had done a bad embalming job on her. If it weren’t for the long tubes coming out of her arms and mouth leading to the beeping machines, we would have had no reason to believe we weren’t already gazing at her corpse. Seeing her that way only made me think of how I’d look when I was finally dead. I shook my head and let go of my momma’s hand walking away to stare out of the large glass window instead.
“I’m sorry that you all are going through this but we really need to get some information from you if we are going to catch whoever did this then we need to act fast.” Detective Rich said easing his way over to me with his hands casually behind his back.
“Oh, uh yes. Forgive me. What do you need to know?” I asked folding my arms and regretting that I moved from my mother’s side.
“Well for starters, do you know of anyone who might want to hurt your sister or what she was doing near the woods last night?” Detective Rich asked as he began to scribble something on his small handheld notepad.
“Um. No. I don’t think my sister had any enemies that I know of. I couldn’t imagine why anyone would want to hurt her.” I snickered silently inside. “You know she travels a lot too so she may have a ton of friends that she sees on a regular basis.”
“Friends, eh?” Detective Dicks stepped in catching eye contact with his partner.
“Yeah, friends.” I countered noticing that his eyebrow was raised seemingly like he didn’t believe anything that was coming out of my mouth.
“So, do you have any idea why she was out on that road so late at night?” Detective Dicks asked.
“Both of you went to that damned club last night. She drove with you there. Why didn’t you leave together?” My momma interrupted, crying hysterically.
I swear I wanted to pop her dead in the fucking mouth right then. She needed to learn to mind her own damn business sometimes, especially when no one was even talking to her. The revulsion that I was feeling inside almost resonated across my face but I remained cool and tried to think of my next remark before I said it. Anything I said next would have to be smooth and not stuttered over. Pigs had a way of reading through that kind of shit.
“You all went to the club last night? That’s something you negated to tell us. Isn’t it, uh? What’s your name again?” Detective Dicks asked leaning in to listen to my answer.
“Mink, my name is Mink. And yes we went to the club last night but momma she left me there and I had to catch a ride home from someone else.” I said walking over to my momma rubbing her back to fake like I was consoling her. “I didn’t want my mother to know that she was leaving with a man she was going to sleep with to get over the pain of finding out that her husband was cheating on her.”
“What? Yolo was cheating?” My momma asked looking up into my eyes.
“Yes. He had another family with kids and everything.” I responded.
“Oh my God…” My momma wept some more shaking her head back and forth and covering her eyes with her hands.
“Uh huh and what’s the name of this club?” Detective Rich interrupted before the sobbing got out of hand again.
“Passions,” don’t you know that man outside the room out there, Yolo? It’s his club.” I said pointing. “I think maybe you should direct the remainder of your questions to him.”
“Thank you all for your time ladies. We’ll be in touch.” Detective Rich said as he and his partner headed out of the room.
My mother looked up at me no longer crying, wiping her face allowing me to see how bloodshot red her eyes had become. I could already tell what she was thinking and what she wanted to say without her lips even budging. At first I was going to give an in depth thorough statement to her like about Flava leaving alone but it looked as if she didn't need it. As she turned her eyes back towards her and laid her head on her leg wrapping her arms gently around them, all I could see were tears exit her eyes and coat the blanket.
Yolo entered the room just as my momma was about to let a torrent of wails, walking over to an unoccupied side of the bed. His motions were slow as if the world around him had lost gravity forcing him to work harder to be able to touch her. His hand gently caressed the side of her face then brushed her hair back sweetly. I could tell he wanted to cry over her leaving me damn near sickened, sickened at the both of them. They were pathetic crying over this bitch.
I couldn't bring myself to cry for her. But as tears swayed down my cheeks, I gave the notion that it was about her when all the time I was really crying because I was a bad shooter. If I had killed her by shooting right between the eyes, there would be no fake mourning session over this body going on right now. No, she would be on a different slab getting cracked upside the head and having all of her blood drained from her body only to be filled with embalming fluid. We wouldn't want her smelling up the joint at the funeral now would we?
"What happened to you baby? What the fuck happened?" Yolo whispered into his hands as he sat down in one of the visitor chairs next to the window.
"I'll tell you what happened you son of a bitch! You killed her! You killed my damn baby!" My momma snapped raising her head to show him her tear soaked face.
"What? Come on momma. You know I wouldn't do no shit like this!" He said pointing to Flava's body. "You know I loved my wife."
"Oh, you’re wife, huh? You weren't thinking about your wife when you were stuffing your turkey in someone else's oven now were you? She caught your ass in a lie and had you been with her last night instead of messing around at that damn club, maybe my daughter would be at home safe and sound right now!" My mother wailed.
"Momma, I—" He began.
"Momma shit! You knew she didn't go to club. You knew she hated it. But you were there popping babies in whores and making other families when you should have been taking care of the family you had at home. What's wrong with you? Huh? You think fucking a bunch of whores makes you a man?" My momma's face was drenched.
"C’mon momma. Let's get you some water and some tissues." I said grabbing her by the shoulders and escorting her out the room.
Yolo's face was stunned with emotion. It was riddled with him not knowing whether to rebut her accusations or apologize. Either way, he knew he was wrong for what he had taken Flava through. Anxious to get back in the room with him, I walked until I was able to pawn my momma off on some poor unsuspecting nurse at the nurse’s station who seemed eagerly concerned about her sadness. Just at the end of the hall Detective Dicks and Rich were engaged in a healthy conversation with CJ, not that they were supposed to be talking to him without a parent present. But I knew he was of no threat to this situation or me seeing as though he didn’t know shit.
Opening the door to Flava’s room, I walked in to see a heartbroken Yolo sitting there with his hands stuffed with his face. He didn’t even notice me coming in or approaching him. I laid my hand on his shoulder gently honestly waiting for him to knock it off and tell me to get the fuck away from him. But he didn’t. He actually leaned back in the chair as I moved behind him stroking and caressing his shoulders in a tender massaging motion.
“Are you okay, baby?” I asked softly and sweetly so as not to arouse or anger him.
“Hell no, I’m not okay.” He stated loudly. “Look at my damn wife.”
“Okay, okay. Calm down.” I whispered; so much for not making him angry. “She’s going to be alright.”
“How do you know that, Mink? She’s in a fucking coma. Somebody put my baby in a coma, shooting her probably thinking that it was me. All I can think about is why did we have to get matching cars?” Yolo said whimpering but still refusing to allow any tears to fall.
“Yolo, you are a great man. Who would want you dead? Maybe…somebody that Flava was fucking around with.” I said egging on his guilt.
&nb
sp; “Mink, she wasn’t fucking around with nobody okay? Nothing points to her cheating on her with nobody. Everything she did was accounted for. When would she have time to cheat?” He asked rubbing my hands off of his shoulders.
“Maybe she was cheating with someone who knew your operation like the back of their hands. What if it was somebody who knew how to cover hers and their tracks together so you would never find out.” I whispered leaning into his ear.
“What the fuck are you saying, Mink? Huh? What the fuck are you trying to say?” He snapped turning his head around to face mine.
I walked around to the front of his chair nearly leaning on my ailing sister’s bed. I wanted him to have just a faint glimpse of her face when I told him the nerve shattering news. I wanted him to believe that every word I was telling him was the gut wrenching truth. His face read only of inquisition and his eyes didn’t seem to blink waiting on the information. The anger was building up inside of him, I could feel it as his eyebrows began to curl over. There was a tension in the room that I wasn’t about to feed.
“I’m saying the one person you put all of your trust in, you probably shouldn’t have because they were gunning for your seat the entire time.” I replied folding my arms.
“What makes you think I’m supposed to trust you for? Huh?”
“You’re not. You’re not supposed to trust me. But if you don’t listen to me you’re a muthafucking fool.”
“How do you know this, Mink?”
“Yolo, you’re so naïve about your precious wife that you couldn’t even see what was happening right under your nose. The friendly smirks they would give each other, the reason why she was all in your ear to give him the job directly up under you. It was all obvious to everyone but you. They were playing you sweetie and for that matter me too.” I knew I was taking a chance laying it on thick but since he didn’t believe me the first time, he was going to believe me this time.
“Wait a minute. What?” He asked sitting up interlocking his fingers while his fuming eyes rapidly paced the floor.
“I take you as a very smart, intellectual man. You now exactly what I’m trying to say.” I took a deep breath before I spoke again. “Cesar was fucking my sister.”
“Naw, man. I’m not about to believe that shit, Mink. How? When? It just doesn’t add up.”
“Think about it. He left his girl at the bar at the club to come over and be all in your business when she was over there arguing with you and that girl. How do you think I know about that huh?” I said getting all in his face, not giving him a chance to think about what I was saying. “He took me outside to argue me up and down not to tell you what was going on between them. Said he needed to be a man and tell you himself.”
I could see him adding the shit up in his head. His leg began to shake rapidly up and down as if his blood was boiling every second he saw the picture of them both together in his head. I walked back around to the back of his chair ready to massage his shoulders again but playing it smooth making sure not to startle or piss him off any further towards me than he already was.
“The reason why I got so mad when you told me that I would never be half the woman that Flava is, was because he had just said the exact same thing to me right outside of the club. Shit, he even sent his girl home in his brand new truck just so he could stay and talk to her.” The lies just kept flowing from my mouth the more pissed off he became. “She left me at the club saying she needed to break it off with him. Eh. Guess he didn’t take it so well.”
“Yeah…right.” He responded still shaking nervously.
I placed my hands on his shoulders trying to relax him but he was so heated I don’t think he even noticed my touching him. Inside, I was ecstatic about the shit. He was an asshole and he deserved everything he was feeling right then. Fuck him, fuck Flava, and fuck that disloyal ass nigga Cesar. In my book, they could all go to hell and kiss my ass on the way there. I felt no pain, pity, or sorrow for either one of those muthafuckas. And as I leaned in to put the icing on the cake, I couldn’t help but to think of what I badass bitch I truly was.
“She told me that she initially hired him to get rid of you. She was tired of your shit and the only way she was going to be able to keep her lifestyle was only if you were gone.” I whispered, smiling as I stood back up.
“Man bitch if you’re lying about this shit, I swear to hades I’m gone bust your ass up, chop you up and feed your ass to the fishes. You heard me bitch?” Yolo snarled as he rubbed his hands around one another like he was devising something evil in the back of his mind.
“Yeah nigga. I hear you. But I’m not lying so you can miss me with that one.” I smirked shrugging my shoulders. “You should have fucked me last night. Then you wouldn’t even feel so bad, told you that you deserve a top bitch.”
“For real, I do. But that bitch still ain’t you.” He snapped standing to his feet pacing the floor. “But I’m gonna get to the bottom of your bullshit. We’re definitely gonna see what’s what.”
“Yolo, you seem tense. Come here. Come here and let me relax you. All I want to do is help you.” I spoke in the sweetest voice.
Yolo sat back down in the seat but not before pacing the shit out of the floor a few more times. I was playing on his anger, his need to seek revenge on whoever did this to his precious love. I kept whispering stupid lies in his ear and it was easy to play him, he was a man who felt betrayed. His ego was bruised by the thought of infidelity and treachery but I was perfectly fine. I was so good in my thoughts that I had to catch myself before I let out a faint chuckle at his expense. It was just too damn easy, like taking candy from a spoiled brat.
I leaned in once more after having thought of some more cold shit to implant in his brain about the two unsuspecting losers on his team to whisper it in his ear. Looking over at Flava, I could have sworn I saw something in her bed move, like a foot or an arm but I couldn’t be sure. The movement was out of the corner of my eye as I leaned down to Yolo’s ear and when I did it a second time I was certain that something over there had jumped. Just as I lifted my head up blinking my eyes hard as hell and focusing in a little closer without being obvious, in walked Cesar.
Chapter 5— Cesar
“What up bro? How’s she doing?” I asked walking in noticing Mink’s treacherous ass all in his damn ear; “The fuck you doing here man?”
“Yeah she’s telling me everything you’ve been up to bro.” Yolo said standing up to face me, squaring off. “You got something you wanna tell me, boy?”
Looking around the room, I could see that the only ones who were in the room were she and he. Flava was clearly laid out and unable to move or speak wrapped tightly in sheets and stuck on all kinds of breathing machines. The peeping kept the tempo of the room and as I looked up into Mink’s squinted eyes they only told me one thing, she had been up to her old tricks and telling lies. My only concern though, was why the hell Yolo was feeding off into it. He knew her better than anybody because Flava told him all about the kind of person she was. It seemed that his grief had bitten him in the ass so tough that he wasn’t thinking clearly enough not to listen to her stupidity.
“Naw bro. I ain’t got nothing to tell you.” I remained calm.
“Oh no? What you do last homeboy?” He asked cracking his knuckles. “Did you go for a joyride or get you some pussy last night?”
“Naw nigga. You know what I did last night. After I hollered at you, I took my girl and went to the crib.” I replied shaking my head in disbelief in Mink’s direction. “My girl can vouch for me if you need that.”
“And I’m supposed to believe that bitch and I don’t trust her ass either?” Yolo smirked.
“Shit, you should be able to believe that bitch more than you believe that one standing behind you.” I said pointing to her crooked face looking ass.
“Aye, don’t blame me cause you got caught. Okay? I told Flava not to fuck with you. I told her your ass wasn’t no good and she needed to stay loyal to her husband.” Mink be
llowed walking up to the conversation.
“Bitch you mind your business. Grown men are talking right now. When we want a hoe’s opinion we’ll ask for it.” I snapped muffing her upside the head. “Man, Yo, you a damn fool if you believe anything this bitch got to say straight up.”
“So tell me why you was all up in the business last night when those females were all in my face.” Yolo asked planting his feet firmly as if he was going to try to knock my ass if I didn’t give him the answer he wanted.
“Man dude, listen to me. I have not now nor have I ever been involved with your wife. You know me better than that man—“
